DH lied about car seat being safely installed for 5 months

[PearlFinch]

Our car has a compartment on the car floor with a lid on top and the isofix leg sits on top of this. Our baby shop made me aware this was unsafe and I could buy a block to fill the compartment so the isofix leg is correctly supported.
My partner said we could put a plank over the space which seemed like an adequate alternative. He told me he has put the plank in. I assumed it was under the car mat.
5 months later when I was helping him put the base back in I've just discovered there has been no plank and there has never been anything done and we've been driving around with an unsafely installed car seat base, and he had lied to me about reinforcing it.

I don't know where we go from here about him lying about undertaking a fundamental safety step. Had I not discovered it I doubt he would have ever told me or done anything to fix the issue.
I just keep thinking what if I'd found out because we'd been in an accident and the worst had happened 😞
Thoughts, advice, anyone else been in a similar situation?

What did he say? Do you think it was a genuine oversight by him?

"oh it's here" he said sheepishly while he grabs some wood from the garage back of the garage.
"That wasn't in the car was it."
It's the fact he said he had said he put it in and I feel like I asked him more than once as I couldn't check under the floor mat (in hindsight it probably shouldn't be installed on top of a floor mat).
I feel like now do I need to check and verify everything he says or does, to check it has been done, I can't just believe his word?

A plank on the floor seems unsafe too. He's been an idiot and you need a different car seat.

I think you’ve both been a bit daft - how is a plank of wood going to make it safe?

You both should have taken the advice when you bought the car seat and purchased the correct block
i think you’re as much to blame
a plank of wood is inadequate and you should have checked in the intervening time

Thats on both of you sorry. Lesson learned.

How would a loose plank of wood be safe in a crash?

So, it was going to be unsafe and you were advised how to make it safe, but you ignored that and he came up with his own solution of a loose plank of wood? And you said yes to that!? You both sound a bit dim.

I agree.

This is why I always got my car seats installed by the car seat provider because i know it will be done properly then. And it's easier.

A plank of wood isn't good enough either. You need a block that fully fits the space and is sufficient for the arm to rest on.

He's a twat for having lied about putting it back in but he hasn't done anything more dangerous than what you were intending to do anyway.

How come you trust your husband with a plank amd not sorted it in the shop buying the seat?
It's messed up from the start. From both of you.

That plank of wood is still sitting on top of a hollow compartment. Even if it extends over the size of the compartment, it is still sitting on too of it. In an accident, you don’t know where the force will come from. That will break.

If it breaks, or if there is enough force to dislodge it, then you’ve got an unsecured seat and you also have loose wood. If you crash at 30mph, those parts of loose wood will continue travelling inside the car at 30mph. If you crash at 70mph; they will continue travelling inside the car at 70mph. You’re literally putting shrapnel into your car. It isn’t safes. The seat needs to be fully supported by a block which completely fills the compartment and is enclosed inside the compartment. Or someone is getting decapitated by a parts of wood plank flying at 30/40/50mph.
Why did either of you think this was safe? Too cheap to buy the proper thing?

You’re both in the wrong here, why either of you would you against the advice and think wood would have been okay is beyond me

It was to provide a stable base to distribute the weight across a wider area under the leg rather than it resting on the plastic hinges of the lid.
Thank you for your input. I think the shop may of suggested this as an opinion but I can't be sure. I went against my gut feeling of getting the support block.
When this was mentioned to me by the shop it was because I was visiting because the car seat had gotten locked into the car seat. John Lewis finally replaced both but I was distracted and I trusted my partners judgement.
I just feel really stupid.

it feels a little bit like “the big manly man” declared that his shit DiY idea would do the job and you just went along with it instead of actually thinking about it, realising how idiotic it was and sorting out the correct safety item. Do you find it hard to say no to him? Does he often think his way is right instead of just doing stuff properly?

I don’t believe any shop would advise anything unsecured to be added to a car. Whatever you carry inside your car will continue to move at speed if you stop. Even a handbag will fly forward at 30mph if you crash. Nothing unsecured that can do any damage should be in your car, especially not if you’re travelling with a child. That’s why we have a boot.

Both to blame. Him for coming up with the stupid idea and you for agreeing to it.

Don't worry - live and learn, this is part and parcel of parenting is realising mistakes you've made and learning your lesson! Thank goodness there's been no harm done this time.

Every parent has stories like this. I once put DS2 in the pushchair and thought I'd done up his straps, but got distracted by DS1 who bolted - then the straps were under the foot muff so I didn't see. We walked all afternoon with DS2 not strapped in until I bashed the pushchair up on the kerb and he nearly slid out onto the road!

I've googled and cybex advise filling the compartment with hard things like books or pieces of wood to reinforce the foot well compartment so I think that's what I'd agreed to, to fill the compartment with large wood blocks.

That seems like insane advice. Use the intended block. It’s designed to not become a projectile in an accident, unlike random planks of wood.

I love Cybex but that has to be old advice they’ve failed to update…

Just got to Halfords, ask for suggestions and let them fit a new one.....
Seems more than 1 plank in your story here..

They’ll be inside the compartment which is secured. Just like block/blocks would be. The issue is having an unsecured plank of wood.

Wouldn't a plank of wood be lethal in an accident. I can't imagine John Lewis would advise this and risk a law suit.

How old is your car? If it's newer than 2013 most of them have reinforced lids for the compartments now anyway so this is all a moot point and an outdated issue - John Lewis should really update their training.

Check the car manual.

If the lid is not reinforced and the car manufacturer recommends use of a filler then it's fine to use books/wood if not the official block, it doesn't cause a hazard if the compartment is closed and the car seat leg is on top of it. A random bit of wood across the floor not secured to anything is probably not a good idea, but also, with the force of the car seat leg on it, unlikely to go anywhere in a crash.

And the seat wouldn't be unsecured. The leg simply prevents excess forward rotation of the seat. It's not good to have a leg on a hollow compartment which could potentially collapse, but the seat will still be secured by the isofix points themselves.